December 2017 – Birds, Blooms and all things Beautiful

December 23, 2017December 25, 2020

Merry Christmas…

This is a repost of several years ago, and dedicated to my precious Aunt Ruby, who is spending her first Heaven in Christmas. It was her favorite holiday, and I can only imagine how much more beautiful it is up there, seeing the baby Jesus, now King, in her new home.

I love you dear Aunt….

To my dear friends and treasured acquaintances here in the blogosphere, I wish you a very merry and wonderful Christmas season!

As I sit here sipping my coffee, watching my cat sleep peacefully by the fire, I can’t help but recall all I have to be thankful for in my life, and I wish this same peace and joy on all who may read this.

We know it’s not about the material possessions, status, or any of those other things that have no lasting meaning…peace and happiness come from inside and the relationships we surround ourselves with.

One of my most peaceful Christmas seasons came at a time when we didn’t know when our next paycheck was coming…true peace transcends those things.

chickadeeDSC_0283

And at this time of the year especially, as we celebrate the birth of our savior, we find life’s truest joy…

I have been reading the last in the Thomas Kinkade’s Cape Light series, this one written by Katherine Spencer, and I loved the way a character in the book summed up the manger scene:

….it is a scene of community, cooperation, a coming together of so many diverse players in this joyful drama. Characters of high birth and low. A tradesman and his young wife, seeking a new home. A shepherd and a king. A wise man and even an angel. All from different backgrounds, with different perspectives on the world and different opinions, I’m sure. But their differences seemed suddenly trivial, eclipsed by their common experience the awe-inspiring experience that connected them, that brought them to common ground, both literal and spiritually. The recognition and adoration of the baby Jesus.

…finally, I thought of the beautiful, innocent baby in this scene. A baby who responds the same to the admiration of the shepherd or the king. A baby who doesn’t know the difference between any of the different faces surrounding him. He reaches toward all of them with equal love. Because that is the way God has created and loves us. We are all equal in His eyes and all worthy of love, respect, and care.

May you each experience this true and lasting joy.

Until next time,

∼Jen

December 12, 2017January 10, 2018

Because a Song, Needed to be Sung….

It all began in a little recording studio where a mutual friend had taken me to cut a demo. The co-owner was engaged to be married at the time, I became engaged a few months later, at some point we both got un-engaged, and the rest, as they say, is history.

And how can it be we have created twenty-five years of history already….it seems like yesterday, and yet so much has happened in our little lifetimes together. Times of joy, times of tears, new beginnings and new lives…all because a song, needed to be sung.

We left the altar filled with dreams and hopes of a lifetime together…and we have been blessed.

Screen Shot 2017-07-01 at 4.20.34 PM

First one precious son, then another, and a third child we’ll someday meet in heaven…

While our sons grew into young men, lines crept onto our faces, and gray, though fiercely fought, invaded our temples…and still we face our days yet to be written, thankfully together.

I smile, as the lesson in my Bible study this week just happens to be the love chapter…

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 1 Cor. 13:4-7

I wish I could say I lived up to all those wonderful words of wisdom on love…yet, it is love, along with God’s grace and a good dose of humor, that has seen us through the past and will hopefully grant us many more years in the future…because, a song still needs to be sung.

To my husband, with all my heart,

∼Jen

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

Screen Shot 2018-01-10 at 10.15.33 PM

December 8, 2017December 11, 2017

The Last Two…

“Hmm, what’s this? Looks like the little lady put out some peanuts for our morning snack”

“Whoa, wait a minute there blue, those nuts are spoken for.”

“That’s right, off you go, I saw these first.”

“What, you again….didn’t we already have this discussion?”

“Back away, back away I tell you!”

“Uh, oh, this is not looking good…”

“One, one little nut to get me through this coming snow, the world’s gone mad I tell you…”

So, who got the last nut? Your guess is as good as mine! Snow is in our forecast, so, I’m off to fight the crowds of milk and bread buyers….I’ll be putting peanuts in my cart;)

Until next time, go buy some peanuts, you’ll be glad you did!

∼Jen

December 6, 2017April 13, 2018

Morning Memories…October-November

Well, Thanksgiving is behind us, and though it is not officially the end of fall, winter doesn’t seem too far off. I love living in a place where I can enjoy each of the four seasons, and quiet mornings, sipping coffee, seem a wonderful way to savor them.

Once again, I have gathered those pictures from my morning photo shoots to relive the moments. With fall being very hectic I missed October’s post so am combining the two months…I hope you enjoy.

Woodpeckers like these are the reason I ask my husband to leave the smaller dead trees on our property standing.

The pileated woodpecker, below, is quite the character, and also quite loud, competing only with “Harold” in volume.

The net was put on the pond in October, and the frogs put on quite the show as they bounced on it like a trampoline. There is a large opening allowing them access into and out of the pond, and one was actually observed bouncing, then doing a backflip into this exposed area…Nadia Comăneci would have been impressed.

Taking a break from gymnastics….

frogDSC_0477

The squirrels enjoyed raiding the peanuts and sunflower seeds from the bird-feeders…

Downy woodpecker is a frequent visitor to the bird feeder area, especially enjoying the suet…

Another favorite at the feeder is the tufted titmouse, such a friendly little guy…he flys off to nearby branches to bang open the sunflower seeds.

Sparrows and chickadees were also in abundance, however, the chickadee was not very photogenic;) Though I think the below sparrow is a white-throated one, I am not confident of that-feel free to educate me!

Of all the birds I enjoyed watching in the last two months, I was more than thrilled when the typically seen cardinal reappeared after more than a months absence. His presence one morning in the tree below made my day!

I tried to convince myself the cardinals were not around the feeders because of the abundance of fall seeds, but after seeing red feathers on the ground, and the character below on at least three occasions near the feeders, I was beginning to worry.

I’ll be the first to admit, though I admire nature more than most, I am not at all a fan of hawks!!! If I saw them flying with a snake dangling from their mouth I may feel differently, however, I have only ever seen them zooming by with poor, helpless songbirds in their clutches.

Lastly on my trip down photo memory-lane… I was able to photograph the raccoon below as he neared the creek at low tide, then nimbly walked across a newly-fallen tree to the peninsula on the other side. I wish I could have gotten his front, but he is still a beaut from behind.

It was an adventurous two months of coffee-time scenery, and I enjoyed many other nature moments and firsts not captured on film. Though it’s hard, sometimes I resist the dash for the camera and force myself to simply sit still and treasure the moment.

Until next time, may you have many memorable nature moments as well.

∼Jen

Month: December 2017

Merry Christmas…

This is a repost of several years ago, and dedicated to my precious Aunt Ruby, who is spending her first Heaven in Christmas. It was her favorite holiday, and I can only imagine how much more beautiful it is up there, seeing the baby Jesus, now King, in her new home.

I love you dear Aunt….

To my dear friends and treasured acquaintances here in the blogosphere, I wish you a very merry and wonderful Christmas season!

As I sit here sipping my coffee, watching my cat sleep peacefully by the fire, I can’t help but recall all I have to be thankful for in my life, and I wish this same peace and joy on all who may read this.

We know it’s not about the material possessions, status, or any of those other things that have no lasting meaning…peace and happiness come from inside and the relationships we surround ourselves with.

One of my most peaceful Christmas seasons came at a time when we didn’t know when our next paycheck was coming…true peace transcends those things.

And at this time of the year especially, as we celebrate the birth of our savior, we find life’s truest joy…

I have been reading the last in the Thomas Kinkade’s Cape Light series, this one written by Katherine Spencer, and I loved the way a character in the book summed up the manger scene:

Because a Song, Needed to be Sung….

So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

The Last Two…

“Hmm, what’s this? Looks like the little lady put out some peanuts for our morning snack”

“Whoa, wait a minute there blue, those nuts are spoken for.”

“That’s right, off you go, I saw these first.”

“What, you again….didn’t we already have this discussion?”

“Back away, back away I tell you!”

“Uh, oh, this is not looking good…”

“One, one little nut to get me through this coming snow, the world’s gone mad I tell you…”

Morning Memories…October-November

Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love…Psalm 143:8